


Hold me close (never let me go)

by badbloodfoxes



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Angst, Brief Mention of Violence, F/F, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Kidnapping, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-09
Updated: 2017-03-09
Packaged: 2018-10-01 14:43:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10192244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/badbloodfoxes/pseuds/badbloodfoxes
Summary: They got too close. Veronica pays the price.





	

So this was it. This was how she would die. Locked in some barn in the middle of nowhere, strapped to a chair with duct tape over her mouth. She can feel the dried blood on the side of her head, which is still pounding from when he hit her with the butt of his gun. If she were still living in New York she might have expected something like this, but not here, not in Riverdale.

They got too close.

The last thing Veronica remembers clearly is walking to Pop’s. She was supposed to meet Betty there for their date. Betty. Is she looking for her? Does Betty even know she’s missing by now?

She has no idea how much time has passed, but the sunlight tells her it’s been at least a night.

There are some memories blurred in her head. She remembers being dragged on the ground, and she struggled to get away. It would explain the cuts and bruises on her legs. That’s when she remembers the gun colliding with her skull.

Tears prick the corners of her eyes. She pulls against the rope holding her wrists and ankles to the chair. She cries through the duct tape hoping, begging, that someone hears her. She feels hot tears on her face now, but can’t bring herself to care.

She thinks of Betty. Good, sweet Betty. The one person who makes her feel safe when everything is falling apart.  

She thinks of just last night, Betty Cooper sitting on her bed, back against the headboard, with her own head in the blonde’s lap, fingers running through her dark hair.

They’d been watching some movie in Veronica’s room, not that she’d really been paying much attention. Betty’s affections nearly had her falling asleep.

“You’re so cute like this,” Betty’s voice sounded from above her, fingers coming to scratch at her scalp. Veronica makes a sound in the back of her throat, something like purring as she shifted to make herself more comfortable.

“Are you saying there are times when I’m not cute?”

“No, no,” Betty giggles, “of course not.”

“You had me worried there for a minute, Betts,” Veronica smirks, “I was just starting to think I might have to rescind your perfect girlfriend status.”

“As if you would.”

Veronica laughs at that. Of course she wouldn’t.

She loves seeing Betty like this. Calm. Relaxed. Away from the stresses in her life that might force her to be someone she’s not. She likes that she can be there for Betty, likes that she’s the only person Betty really lets her guard down for. As much as Betty makes Veronica feel safe, she knows she has a similar effect on Betty.

Her eyelids drift shut after a few minutes. She can’t help it with the way Betty keeps scratching her scalp like _that_.

She hears rustling behind her, then feels the warmth of a blanket on top of her, Betty’s fingers still in her hair.

“Goodnight, V.”

Veronica lifts her head. There’s no more sunlight streaming through the cracks between the boards of wood. If she strains her neck far enough she thinks she can see the moon. The tear tracks have dried on her cheeks, and her head doesn’t hurt as badly as it did before. Her stomach rumbles, and she whines somewhere in the back of her throat.

Whoever brought her here hasn’t come back to check on her, which probably means they won’t be coming back at all. She screams, despite how muffled it is, and struggles against her bonds again. She doesn’t want to die like this. She wants to see her mother again, tell her how much she loves her, tell her how sorry she is for acting so childishly about Fred Andrews. She wants to see Archie, and Kevin, and Jughead. She wants to be in that Riverdale High classroom looking at their murderboard, watching Betty chew her lip that adorable way she does when she concentrates.

She wants Betty. She wants the warmth and comfort that comes from having Betty’s arms around her. She wants the feeling of Betty’s lips pressed against her own at least one more time. She wants to see those gorgeous eyes looking down at her because why does her girlfriend have to be so tall and why is she so short and yet somehow they’re perfect for each other even with their height because she can rest her head on Betty’s shoulder whenever she wants.

She wants to go home.

Veronica shivers in the night air. She looks around for her cape but it isn’t there. She’s trapped there in her dress and pearls, even her shoes have been taken off her feet.   

The terrifying reality hits her that she’ll have to just wait here for someone to find her. She hates it. Veronica Lodge doesn’t do damsel in distress, but even she can’t get herself out of this one. The ropes are too tight, and no matter how loud she’s screamed no one has come for her.

So she waits.

The second day passes as quietly as the first. When she opens her eyes the sun is already in the sky, and she has no idea what time it is. She can tell the shift between morning and afternoon, but barely. She stares at the walls, occasionally looking around for a way out, but the only exit seems to be the door far ahead of her, far out of her reach.

She thinks of Betty. Thinks of every moment with her girlfriend that she can remember to pass the time.

_Please, Betty_ , she thinks to herself, _Come on, Nancy Drew. If anyone’s going to find me, it’ll be you. Please find me, Betty._

By the afternoon she stops yelling for help. Her throat is going dry and her stomach still occasionally rumbles. Thinking of Pop’s milkshakes and burgers doesn’t help. What she wouldn’t give to be there now, sitting across from Betty, sharing a milkshake and basket of fries. They’d be holding hands over the table, no doubt. Veronica loves that. Every time someone walks by them and sees their hands they’ll know that she belongs to Betty Cooper.

She doesn’t remember seeing the moon, or the darkness of night. When her eyes open again she thinks it might be a little past sunrise, but she doesn’t bother to stretch her neck to check. Her stomach growls at her more frequently, then goes silent for what feels like hours. At some point she starts to shiver. It’s much colder than it was the day before.

Veronica weakly tries pulling at her bonds again to no avail.

_Betty, where are you_?

Veronica doesn’t know how much time has passed now. She’s too weak to even keep her head up. The only movement she can muster are the shivers that course through her every now and then.

This is when she realizes she’s never going home. She’s never going to see her friends and family again. She’s never going to see Betty again.

And she never got to tell her how much she loves her.

Fresh tears fall down her face again as she feels the world start to go dark around her. At least she’ll see Betty in her dreams.

“Veronica!” she hears and forces herself to blink her eyes open. It must be some cruel trick, hallucinations probably, that she sees Betty at the door of the barn. Betty’s eyes are wide as they look her over once and she’s running toward her. She blinks again and Betty’s right in front of her.

“Ronnie! Baby!” Warm hands cup her cheeks.

_Oh_. You aren’t supposed to be able to _feel_ hallucinations. Tears pool in her eyes and run down her cheeks because Betty is _here_. Betty found her.

“I’m here,” Betty’s forehead presses against hers. “I’m here, okay? I’m gonna get you out of here.”

Betty grabs something out of her bag, her switchblade, and turns her head over her shoulder.

“Archie! Jughead!”

“Betty!”

“I found her!”

Betty’s attention comes back to her, and she cuts through the ropes at Veronica’s wrists first, then her ankles.

Veronica groans, her own voice coming out so soft she’s not even sure Betty’s heard her. She tries again, and this time Betty’s eyes look up to meet hers. A hand takes hers, their fingers intertwining.

“Don’t try and talk, okay?” Betty’s eyes flick down to her mouth. She wants so badly for Betty to take the duct tape of so she can say all the things she’s been meaning to say but- “I can’t take the tape off.” Veronica whines. Betty squeezes her hand. “I’m sorry, baby. It’s been on too long and if I try to take it off I could seriously hurt you. But they’re coming. Archie and Juggie are coming. And we’re gonna get you out of here and take you to the hospital and it’s going to be okay. Okay?”

Veronica squeezes Betty’s hand as hard as she can, which much not be that hard because Betty’s eyes look even more worried. She hears footsteps come into the room, but she doesn’t move her head, it’s not like she could if she wanted to.

“Veronica!” She recognizes Archie’s voice, but he doesn’t get to say anything else.

“Archie,” Betty looks over at him, moving from her place in front of Veronica. “Carry her. Juggie call Sheriff Keller. Tell him we found her and we’re going to the hospital. We’ll call Hermione when we get there.”

Veronica feels the hand at her back and under her knees, and practically falls into Archie when he picks her up, her head resting on his chest.

“You’re gonna be okay, Ronnie,” there’s a crack in his voice, and she wonders how bad she really looks.

Archie’s gentle with her as he carries her, as gentle as he can be considering he’s running to get back to Betty’s car. Veronica doesn’t notice the jostling, only Betty’s voice as she keeps talking to her. She tries to focus on what Betty’s saying but everything’s starting to blur. She shivers in Archie’s arms as the cold air hits her, her eyes starting to flutter shut but she forces them open again.

Betty’s car comes into view, Betty running ahead of Archie to open the door.

“Put her in the back, I’ll get in on the other side.”

She blinks and she’s already in the car, Archie getting into the front seat. She hears the screeching of tires and they’re off. She blinks again and they’re still driving, but she’s significantly warmer and there are nails scratching at her scalp. Veronica makes a noise in the back of her throat, finally noticing that she’s lying with her head on Betty’s thighs looking up at her blonde savior.

“Just hang on, Ronnie,” Betty’s fingers still in her hair, and her hand moves under Veronica’s head. “We’re almost there.”

Veronica blinks up at her, trying to let her know that she understands. She feels a heaviness on her and her brows furrow just slightly as she notices that Betty isn’t wearing her jacket anymore, but it’s draped on her.

She leans her head Betty’s stomach, feeling the way her abdomen moves with her breathing. She must be looking up at Betty like she’s the entire world, although with the way everything is blurred around her, Betty Cooper quite literally _is_ her entire world.

Her eyelids feel heavy, and they’re drifting shut and she just wants to sleep. She wants this to be over and-

“Hey,” Betty’s soft voice calls her. She forces her eyes open to see Betty looking down at her, to feel Betty’s hand take her own. “Stay awake for me, okay? We’re almost there, Ronnie. Just a little longer.”

Betty’s hand squeezes hers, and she squeezes back as much as she’s able. She tries to stay awake, she’s trying so hard. She doesn’t want to let Betty down, doesn’t want to go another second without seeing her. But she’s tired. Even with Betty’s jacket draped over her she’s still cold, and she’s not strong enough to stay awake anymore.

Her eyes drift shut, and the noises around her fade. She hears Betty calling her name, but it sounds like she’s calling to her through water, and she can’t force her eyes open again. Eventually it’s quiet, and she’s pulled into darkness.

 

* * *

 

There’s beeping right beside her ear that’s even more annoying than her alarm clock. It’s constant and driving her mad. She tries to blink open her eyes but it’s too bright. Veronica groans as she tries again, squinting her eyes until she becomes more adjusted to the light and can fully open her eyes.

The room is white, and the beeping next to her is a monitor on a screen. She’s not wearing her dress anymore and there’s no duct tape on her mouth and-

“ _Mija_ ,”

She turns her head into the direction of the voice.

“Mom,” her voice cracks on the word. Arms wrap around her and she buries herself in her mother’s embrace. Her body trembles with her soft cries and her mother whispers quiet comforts in her ear.

She opens her eyes over her mother’s shoulder, her eyes meet Betty’s and her shoulders sag, not out of dread, but in relief. She’s safe now. She’s safe in her mother’s arms and her girlfriend is there with her.

‘I love you,’ she mouths over her mom’s shoulder. Veronica watches Betty’s mouth go agape, tears springing into her eyes. She nods.   

‘I love you too.’

 

* * *

 

 

Recovery in the hospital doesn’t take too long. She was unconscious for under a day, they keep her in the hospital for only a few days more before releasing her. All of her friends visit her while she’s in the hospital. Archie comes by after school with his guitar and plays her a few songs. Kevin drops in to tell her all the gossip. Jughead sneaks her fries from Pop’s. Even Cheryl comes.

Betty’s there every single day. Not all day because of school, but the very first day Veronica wakes up without Betty by her side there are yellow roses on the table in front of her bed.

She remembers the first night in her hospital room. A Friday. Betty’s writing some article in the chair beside her and her mother went to get them all dinner from Pop’s.

“Betty,” she smirks in her girlfriend’s direction, feeling a warmth in her chest as Betty’s eyes meet hers. “Come here.” She pats the space in the bed beside her. Betty scoffs.

“I’m pretty sure that’s against the rules.”

“I _make_ the rules, remember?”

“And when necessary you break them?” Betty smiles.          

“Exactly!” Veronica laughs, “And this is totally necessary.”

Betty sighs, but gets up from her chair and sits on the edge of the bed, carefully maneuvering herself so that she’s sitting on the bed with her legs stretched out but still giving Veronica enough room.

Veronica lies back down and puts her head in Betty’s lap. Fingers immediately start combing through her hair.

“I was so worried about you,” she hears Betty tell her. “When the first day went by without you calling or texting or showing up to school I knew something was wrong. Jughead and I went by your place but your mom wasn’t there, Smithers said she went to Sheriff Keller and when he said you were missing I-”

“Shh,” Veronica takes Betty’s hand and brings it to her lips so she can press a kiss to her palm. She turns her head to look up at her girlfriend, whose eyes shine with unshed tears. Betty’s hand moves to cup her cheek, thumb brushing against her cheekbone.

“When we found you,” Betty exhales and leans down to press a kiss to Veronica’s forehead. “I don’t think I’ve ever been more relieved and scared at the same time.”

“What did I look like?” Ronnie puts her hand over Betty’s and leans into the blonde’s touch, “When you found me?”

Betty takes a deep breath.

“You were so pale,” she takes a shaky breath, “and your cheeks had sunk in a little bit. I think the blood scared me the most. I thought you’d been hit on the head and left for dead but,” tears are running down Betty’s face now and she laughs, “then you looked at me and-”

Veronica sits up, taking her girlfriend’s face gently in her hands, and presses their lips together. Betty’s arms wrap around her, fisting the material of her hospital gown on her back.

Betty’s the first one to pull back.

“You’re the one in the hospital bed,” she moves to wipe her eyes, “I’m supposed to be taking care of you.”

“We," Ronnie leans forward to press a kiss to the tip of Betty’s nose, “are supposed to be taking care of each other.”

Betty leans forward, pressing their foreheads together. They’re quiet for a moment before Betty leans in for another kiss.

“I love you, Ronnie,” she whispers against Veronica’s lips.

“I love you too.”

Hermione walks into the hospital room later, struggling to carry all the bags and walking as fast as she can.

“Sorry girls,” she sets the bags on the table, “there was a long-” she falls silent.

The two girls had fallen asleep long before Hermione got there. Veronica, with her head on Betty’s shoulder and her arm draped over the blonde’s stomach, and Betty holding Veronica close with her arms around her waist.

Hermione smiled and sighed, taking her place in the seat closest to Veronica’s side and reaching into a bag for a French fry.

“What am I going to do with you two?”

 

* * *

 

 

The nightmares start a week after Veronica leaves the hospital. She thinks she’s fine, that she can just go on with her life and everything will be fine. For the first week she’s right, but then it starts.

The cold classrooms start to remind her of that barn. She can practically feel the rope around her wrists as she tries to force herself to keep listening to a lecture. When the bell rings to startle her out of her memories she dashes out as quickly as possible to find Betty, the only person who really makes her feel better.

People start asking her about it. Surprisingly Archie’s the first to question her. She brushes him off, tells him she’s fine. That’s what she tells everyone. Archie. Betty. Her mom. She knows it’s not true, but she can’t bring herself to worry them. She’ll be fine.

It’s a Tuesday night when she first wakes up screaming, when Hermione runs into her daughter’s room to find her knees pulled up to her chest and tears running down her face. A week passes by, every night exactly like the last. Veronica wakes up from memories of that barn screaming, and Hermione will hold her close until she falls asleep again.

She has to put more and more concealer on these days. Still, no one notices what she’s going through. Well, no one except for Betty.

“You look tired,” Betty’s brows furrow as she looks at Veronica sitting next to her. Betty silently started the trend of sitting by Veronica’s side on their dates at Pop’s now. “Have you been sleeping okay?”

It’s a simple question, one she knows she could just say yes to and Betty would change the subject to something else, but the words won’t leave her mouth. Her hands ball into fists on her thighs and her leg starts bouncing. She can’t get that barn out of her head, the quiet, the cold. Her shoulders start shaking. A warm hand takes hers and draws her out of her head.

“Ronnie?” Betty’s other hand comes up to tuck a strand of Veronica’s hair behind her ear. “Baby?”

Veronica takes a breath, steadying herself. She feels the prick of tears in her eyes and blinks them away. She won’t do this. She won’t break down in public like this. She’s Veronica Lodge. She has an image to maintain.

She almost tells Betty she’s fine, but she can’t lie to her that way.

“Can we talk about this later?” she pauses, “Please?”

Betty straightens in her seat. Veronica hardly says please to anyone, for any reason. Betty nods her head and leans over to kiss Veronica’s cheek.

“We’ll talk about it when we get back to your place, okay?”

Veronica nods. She’d completely forgotten that she invited Betty to sleep over. It’s unusual for her to forget plans, much less plans with Betty. Her stomach drops at the idea of Betty seeing her go through one of her nightmares, but she feels Betty’s thumb brush over the back of her knuckles and relaxes, leaning into Betty’s side.

She doesn’t say a word the entire walk home, instead listening to Betty go on about the Blue and Gold, how more students are getting involved with the school paper, and how adorable it is to watch Jughead try and teach kids what a typewriter is.

“Okay,” Betty says as they walk into the main room of the Lodge household, moving to put a hand on Veronica’s arm. “Something’s wrong. Something’s been wrong for a while now.”

Veronica’s gaze shifts down to the floor.

“Hey,” she hears Betty say, and feels Betty’s fingers under her chin as the blonde tilts her head up so she’s looking at her. “You can tell me anything.”

“I know,” Ronnie doesn’t mean for it to be a whisper, “I’m just embarrassed.”

Betty doesn’t say anything, just patiently waits for Veronica to continue.

“I’ve been having nightmares,” Ronnie swallows, “for a little over a week now. I thought I could handle it. I thought they’d just go away if I didn’t say anything but,” she takes a shaky breath. “I keep going back to that barn. It’s dark and it’s cold, God, it’s so cold Betty.”

Betty hushes her, taking her into her arms. Veronica shuts her eyes tight, grabbing the material at the front of Betty’s shirt in her fists.

“I got you,” Betty whispers into Veronica’s ear, and Veronica feels herself relax. “I’ll stay the night with you tonight.”

Ronnie pulls back.

“But what about your mom?”

“I’ll make something up,” Betty shrugs, as if it were really that simple. “I’m staying with you tonight.”

How in the world did she get so lucky with Betty?

“Okay,” Veronica nods, leaning forward to kiss her girlfriend. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

She thinks maybe with Betty beside her she won’t have a nightmare tonight, that she’ll dream of Betty and all the good times they’ve had, that it will be different now that Betty’s with her.

It isn’t.

She shivers in her sleep, remembering the cold of the barn, pulling against her bonds and kicking against the ropes at her ankles. She wakes up screaming, sitting up in her bed and gasping for air. She reaches to her cheek. She knows the duct tape isn’t there but she can feel it covering her mouth and muffling her screams.

Veronica flinches at the first touch of arms around her waist, but lets herself be dragged into an embrace and buries her face into Betty’s neck.

“Shh,” Betty hushes her, rocking her back and forth on the bed and pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “I’ve got you, baby, it’s okay.”

Betty pulls back to look her in the eye. Veronica can still feel the tears running down her cheeks but Betty, sweet Betty, brings her hands up to brush the tears away with her thumbs.

“I’m here. With you in your bedroom. You’re not in the barn. You will never go back to that barn. I will never let you go back to that barn, okay?”

Veronica nods her head, and Betty leans forward to press a kiss to her forehead and draw her back into an embrace.

Ronnie wraps her arms around Betty’s waist, leaning her head against her shoulder and working on slowing down her breathing. Betty’s here. Betty saved her and she knows Betty will never let anything happen to her again.

She also knows it won’t be an easy road, that there will likely be more nights like this, nights where she wakes up in the dark thinking she’s back in that barn. But now Betty will be with her those nights, to hold her and tell her she’s alright. To bring her back home.

Eventually she pulls Betty down to lie on the bed again, resting her head against Betty’s chest and listening to the strength of her strong heartbeat. Betty’s arms wrap around her and she’s warm, not cold like she was in the barn, not alone like she was in the barn.

With Betty by her side she knows she’ll be okay again.

**Author's Note:**

> was this long fic an excuse to have lots of betty comforting veronica?  
> yes  
> hmu @ xstardusts on tumblr if you like


End file.
